


Not Too Long

by Clockwork



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-02-16
Updated: 2011-02-16
Packaged: 2017-10-15 17:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clockwork/pseuds/Clockwork
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A long road comes to an end.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Too Long

The cold hard truth was that Blair never thought this was how it would end. Danger had become such a part of their lives, both on and off the job, that Blair never thought that it would be old age that would end up separating them.

Throughout his career, both as a soldier and then a detective, Jim had risked his life without a single thought for his own safety or mortality. He would race into fiery buildings, dive headfirst into water to save drowning kids, and wouldn't back down from a gun in his face or a knife to his throat. Hero wasn't a word just for myths, it was a word that had a single meaning as far as Blair Sandburg was concerned. Jim Ellison.

Not that Blair had ever given much more concern for his own life.

Before he had known Jim, before he'd even begun college, Blair had nearly died no less than three times. Exposure to lead based paint. Car accidents. Trying to ride his bike down the steps that sloped down from the Lincoln Memorial. Blair had been encouraged to live free and follow his heart. His heart wasn't always the smartest of organs.

Come college he volunteered for every expidition and dig that came across his desk. He risked his life to deadly airborne diseases, violent tribesmen and rampaging animals. He had eaten meat that made rancid look healthy, and drank water that was green enough to rival the vegetation around it. Mortality hadn't come into the picture in those days. All that had mattered was the pursuit of knowledge. A pursuit that had led him smackdab into Jim Ellison.

Then their life had become ride alongs and terrorists, thieves and explosives and even another Sentinel who was willing to lose her mind in her need for power and strength. The only thing that had changed for them that could be measured was two things. Blair clipping a badge to his belt rather than wearing a card about his neck.

And then half a foot of tight, springy curls he'd had shorn in the battle to win that badge.

They had been partners for three years when Blair got that badge. To Jim and Blair it only meant that they couldn't take Blair away for his own safety. Blair never thought they would both live to see retirement. He wasn't even sure one of them would. Not when they were tasked with not only keeping crime down in Cascade, but in being the Shaman and Sentinel for the area. It meant taking on loggers and drug dealers, poachers and abusive spouses. Despite the small town feeling most got from the area, the fresh air and mountains and crystal clear streams, it was an area that seemed to attract both the best and the worst.

Yet the two of them had made it, Jim only staying as long as it took for Blair to get his retirement. They ended their career in law enforcement like Blair had begun his: side by side and grinning.

Now it was ending and suddenly Blair wanted to know where the time had gone. Why couldn't they have one more year, another few months. Why did it have to end now when it felt like it had only just begun? Their life was over before Blair had a chance to blink and he wanted to cling to it as long as he could.

"You're hurting my hand, Chief."

Jim's voice was just as strong as it had ever been, even though his hair was gray and his aim a lot less sure than it once had been.

"I don't want to let go." Sandburg's voice was barely more than a whisper, weaker than even he felt.

"You're not. We won't be apart for long. How the hell do you expect me to navigate the afterlife without my guide?"

The words calmed Blair like little else could. They wouldn't be apart for long. Neither of them was as healthy as they once were, both beyond what most called the twilight years. It wasn't twilight anymore. It was midnight and there was no moon.

"I'll wait for you,' Blair whispered, that tight grip loosening though he thought he was still holding tight. "Don't make me wait too long." It was a selfish request but there was a moment in every man's life when it was okay to ask for what you shouldn't want. This was Blair's time.

"Not long at all,' he assured his partner.

"I love you, Jim." Blair's eyes, whiter than blue as the light faded from them, slowly closed.

"I love you too, Chief."

He wasn't sure if Blair heard him or not, but he'd be there soon enough to tell him in person. Fate, and Blair's determination, had brought them together and Jim wasn't going to let something as innane as death keep them apart.


End file.
